The Baby Blue Rip-Off: A Mallory Novel, Book 1

Budding mystery writer Mallory was just trying to impress a politically correct girlfriend by delivering hot meals to little old ladies. The last thing he expected was to find his elderly charges such fascinating company, and when one sweet old gal meets an unexpectedly grisly fate, Mal sets out to find and stop the burglars who this time stole a life. The last thing the local sheriff needs, however, is a meddling civilian.

Not as Hardboiled as the Heller Series

I am a big fan of the Nathan Heller series written by Max Allan Collins. I thought that I would enjoy reading other books he wrote as well and had the..Show More » opportunity to get this one inexpensively because of the Amazon Whispersync deal. (If you buy a Kindle version on Amazon of a book that has Whispersync you get a deal on the audio book.) Since my wife loves audio books I went ahead and got the book in audio as well.

In my opinion this book is a better read on the Kindle than it is as an audio performance. Part of the reason is the narrator. Mr. Miller does a fine job with everything but the female voice performances.

I would recommend the Kindle or the paper version of the book over the audio.

No Cure for Death: A Mallory Novel

What’s a good mystery story without a beautiful blonde to set things in motion? When the femme sharing a bench with Mallory in the Port City, Iowa, bus station is accosted by a scar-faced, one-eyed thug, the aspiring writer stops minding his own business and leaps into the fray with nothing but his fists and a well-aimed Pepsi bottle.

Kill Your Darlings: A Mallory Novel, Book 3

Mallory is back and facing a two-fisted whodunit: Who’s responsible for the just-discovered “lost novel” by the celebrated author of The Maltese Falcon? Is it the master, Dashiell Hammett, himself, or a very cunning counterfeiter? And who’s behind the shocking, suspicious demise of Roscoe Kane, a hard-drinking, hard-boiled crime-novel pioneer? Aptly enough, this one-two punch of a puzzle is the talk of Bouchercon, the famed convention where mystery scribes gather to honor (and murder?) their own.

A Shroud for Aquarius: A Mallory Novel

Ginnie Mullens was many things in her life: tomboy, hippie, businesswoman, and inveterate gambler. Now, she’s just dead - apparently by her own hand. But “apparently” doesn’t pass muster with mystery writer Mallory, because no matter what else she may have been, Ginnie was first and foremost his friend. There’s nothing Mal won’t do to prove she didn’t go into that good night willingly…and nothing that will stop him from coming down hard on her killer.

Nice Weekend for a Murder: A Mallory Novel, Book 5

Everybody has someone they’d secretly like to kill. For Mallory and his fellow professional mystery authors, that someone is caustic book critic Kirk Rath. And while that’s no secret, it’s certainly a surprise when a busload of writers takes part in a mountain resort’s Murder Mystery Weekend - and discovers their archenemy has been cast in the plum part of the victim. What’s more surprising is how well Kirk Rath plays dead - until Mallory discovers the most hated man on Mohonk Mountain isn’t playing.